TAP signing

This week had been a pretty hectic week, especially near the end. There were 2 events that were the highlights of my week. Namely the TAP signing on Wednesday 27th of January 2010 held at the Rizqun Hotel and the Consumer Fair held from Friday 29th January until the 31st.

The TAP signing came first. I was given the responsiblity to handle more than I did than in the previous weeks and for that I realized that my role as strategist changed to both strategist and practitioner. On Tuesday, I had made the preparations for the event; creating Press Releases, Preparing the neccessary documents and materials for the event, booking the venue, getting the momento (which is like a plaque to commemorate the event, presented to the guest of honor) and evenn preparing the door gifts. It was refreshing, to know that my supervisors thought that I was capable of handling more. The guest of honor was the Minister of Energy from the Prime Minister's office and although the idea seemed daunting, I had to push myself to do it. There was even a tiny hiccup during the event where the momento had not arrived, even when the guest of honor had but luckily the problem was resolved before any of the guests had any idea. Overall, my supervisors thought that it was quite a success. She mentioned that the faster the event goes, the more successful it is. I both agree and disagree with her comment. Agree because as far as conventional wisdom goes, the sooner an event ends, the less likely there are to be hitches. Yet i disagree, owing to the fact that measuring the success of an event through the speed of execution alone would not garner a specific data that can be used for future references.

For the weekend, it was the Consumer fair. The exhibition allowed me to network with various individuals in the private sector of Brunei. I was asked to handle the Baiduri Booth and the aim of our booth was to promote financial responsibilty amongst the public. I had to study certain financial theories (which is quite an experience since I have no background in Finance in my entire academic career) to be prepared to let the public know how to manage money responsibly. By this time, I realized that my role was now not a strategist but more of a practitioner.